It's the end for Dickins & Jones

Dickins & Jones, one of London's most famous department stores, is to close with the loss of hundreds of jobs.

The Regent Street institution, which has traded in the West End since 1803, will shut its doors for good in January.

Two property developers have drawn up plans to turn the store into a series of smaller ground-floor shops with flats and offices above.

The news comes amid the sharpest downturn in consumer spending in more than a decade and follows years of dismal trading at the store.

Today stunned staff described their anger after they were warned by senior managers that as many as 500 could face redundancy. One said: "Most of us knew nothing about it and when we were told that Dickins & Jones was going to be no more, our faces dropped.

"They managed to keep the whole thing secret and now we only have a matter of months to find a new job.

"They said that some of us would be relocated and told us how much they valued all our hard work. But that now counts for nothing and we feel we have been treated very shabbily.

"Some of us have worked here for more than 20 years and now we are going to be tossed on the scrapheap."

In a bid to improve profitability, struggling parent company House of Fraser has accepted a joint offer from the Shearer Property Group and Delancy Estates.

Last year it got rid of the landmark Army & Navy name from its Victoria outlet, part of an exercise to rebrand other stores in the group, including Barkers and David Evans, as Frasers.

Ultimately each of its 47 department stores will shed its original name.

Dickins & Jones declined to comment but a company source said: "It's an open secret that Dickins & Jones has been suffering in the last few years.

"Our image is too old and stuffy and we simply can't compete with many of the other big names out there."

Independent retailers at Dickins & Jones, including Esté¥ Lauder and Austin Reed, are understood to have been told of the closure and have drawn up their own plans to relocate.

Dickins & Jones was hit by a massive rent rise from landlord Legal & General in July 2003. It has been increasingly overshadowed by its neighbour, Liberty, and now looks out of place in a Regent Street that boasts cutting-edge retailers such as Apple, which has its European flagship store opposite.

Dickins & Jones joins a long roll-call of "fallen" London department stores, including Derry & Toms in Kensington, Swan & Edgar at Piccadilly Circus and Gamages in Holborn.